This invention relates in general to accessories for playing "Bingo" games and, more specifically to an accessory sheet having selectable openings conformable to special game patterns through which a bingo card can be marked.
Bingo is a game that is played with a board containing square block pattern of different numbers, generally five by five. The numbers on each card are printed at random or by some system. Each player obtains one or more sheets each having printed thereon one or more block patterns. A caller calls numbers at random and the player marks each square on the sheets that has a number corresponding to the one called. The person first marking all of the squares on a card corresponding to the pattern being used for that game wins.
Many different patterns may be used. The selected pattern for a given game may be a simple straight line arrangement; vertical, horizontal or diagonal. Many other patterns may be used, such as an "X", "Y", "T", a diamond, a peripheral frame, etc. In each of these, only squares making up the particular pattern are to be marked, with the remaining squares ignored. Where a number of bingo cards are being played simultaneously by a player, it is very difficult to mark only those squares in play and ignore the others and to realize that the pattern in play has been completed on one of the several cards.
A number of different bingo cards have been developed, such as are described by Carney in U.S. Pat. No. 2,191,825 and Herring in U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,541 in which a slide, pivotable tab or the like can be moved to cover a called number. While useful with simple game patterns, they do not overcome the problems in marking only the squares in play with unusual or complex patterns. Also, the tabs or slides are susceptible to being inadvertently moved off of a called number square, so that the player does not realize that a pattern has, in fact, been completed.
Originally, bingo was played with single, individual cards carrying only one game board pattern. To permit players to play several cards simultaneously, attempts have been made to connect individual cards together or to have individual cards with pressure sensitive adhesive backs for temporarily bonding to a backing board, such as is described by Fadner et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,151. While this kept the individual cards together, this did not meet the problem of unusual game pattern as detailed above.
As players began to play a great number of cards simultaneously, many bingo centers have begun to use paper sheets printed with a plurality, typically a three by three arrangement of none game cards. An ink containing rubber stamping device or "dauber" is used to stamp the square containing each number as numbers are called. The game sheets are discarded upon conclusion of each game. While this makes possible the playing of a large number of games at the same time, since the individual cards could not slide around and the rubber stamp provides the ability to rapidly mark called numbers, the problem of marking only the appropriate squares with an unusual or complex game pattern remains.
McCullen, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,057, describes a masking template for covering an entire multi-game sheet, typically a three by three pattern. Each template is prepunched with a pattern of openings corresponding to a particular unusual game pattern. When placed over a multi-game sheet, only those number squares corresponding to the game being played are revealed. This was a considerable improvement over prior bingo accessories.
However, a number of problems remain. A large number of templates must be kept by the player, typically in a three-ring binder, in anticipation of the different game patterns that might be used. Since the game patterns are limited only by the caller's imagination, it would not be reasonably possible to provide every game pattern in such a binder. If a game pattern is called that does not conform with one of the binder templates, the player must either sit that game out or go back to trying to mark only the appropriate squares with no assistance in defining the patterns, either of which would be very aggravating to a fanatic bingo player.
Further, the template to be used must be placed rather precisely over the bingo card sheet being used. The template can rather easily be bumped and displaced during play. Should the template be moved approximately one square to the side or vertically, the displacement may not be noticed until several numbers have been called. This is potentially disastrous for the player if needed numbers have been missed.
Since the bingo card sheets are disposed of after every game, they are generally cheaply printed on low cost stock, usually newsprint. We have found that the space between adjacent number squares varies with different printers and even with different press runs with a single printer. With uniform template opening sizes as shown in the McCullen patent, the outermost rows of number squares may be partly beyond the edge of the template opening, making the number difficult to identify.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improved bingo playing aids for use in playing special or unusual bingo game patterns which display only the game pattern called, that clearly show the numbered squares to be played, that avoid displacement of the aid from the bingo card sheet, are adaptable to new patterns and are useful with a variety of different patterns of game cards on multi-card sheets.